It’s Official: The Twenty Palaces Series Has Been Cancelled (long)

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(Update to this post: I’m shutting down comments because it’s been over a week and they’re still coming. What’s more, I don’t really want to keep talking about it. Thank you.)

(Second update: Disabling new comments hid the old comments, which I didn’t want, so comments are back on again.)

(Third update: This cancelled series is sort of uncanceled. Self-published novellas seem like a viable path forward, and that’s what I’m trying. Check out my books page for new entries into the series.)

Yep. It’s true. Based on the sales of Circle of Enemies, Del Rey has decided not to offer me a contract to write more Twenty Palaces books.

What? Why?

Well, Pretend Questioner, let me address that in a very long blog post Continue reading

Quote of the day

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“As the air to a bird or the sea to a fish, so is contempt to the contemptible.”

—- William Blake

Randomness for 10/13

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1) What it’s like to work on a show in trouble.

2) Saveur magazine invites comix artists to write and draw their favorite recipes. Wonderful.

3) Cameos carved in Oreo cookies.

4) Cat vs. Hairdryer. Video.

5) Six big economic myths, debunked.

6) Super-rich superheroes (and villains) are the 1%!

7) TV/movie starships, to scale.

SFBC Omnibus Editions Have Arrived

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Just a few moments ago I received a box of my author copies of The Wooden Man, the omnibus edition of my three Twenty Palaces novels. You can see the black satin ribbon bookmark that marks it as that month’s “Sliver of Night” selection (aka the featured urban fantasy for the catalog) for the Science Fiction Book Club.

And you can see my Halloween table cloth, too. I think that’s appropriate.

Anyway, if you want the omnibus, you’ll have to get it from SFBC or buy it second hand from one of their members. There’s a special introduction I wrote for it that you won’t find anywhere else.

Won’t someone think of the children?

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A fretful grownup has written yet another article complaining about grim subject matter in modern YA, this time published in the NY Times. It deserves to be refuted, but this shit is so tiresome I can’t work up the energy for it.

Luckily, Rose Fox has already addressed it, and done a better job than I would have. Phew.

Randomness for 10/10

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1) Evangelicals try to rebrand Halloween into “Jesusween” because what’s more important that Jesus’s ween?

2) Photos of people scared shitless at a haunted house. This is so freaking amazing I don’t even know.

3) Ten stubborn food myths that just won’t die.

4) Want to see part of a mountain fall into the sea? Video.

5) I include this because it looks great and is technically well done, even if the “story” isn’t: Stop-Motion Ninja duel. Video.

6) This is why I’m not nostalgic about Steve Jobs, even though my home is full of stuff he sold.

7) This post by Ezra Klein is pretty good chronicling of the errors made when the Obama administration designed their stimulus.

Bonus link: There’s a site re-posting old Usenet articles exactly 30 years after they were originally posted. Use your newsreader: nntp.olduse.net.

Reviews, Part 29

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1) The person writing at “The Entropy Pump” seems to think that Ray’s successes in the first couple books show that he’s a “million-to-one snowflake” and disapproves.

2) Paolo Gabriel V. Chikiamco writes a very interesting (and positive) review of Child of Fire at Fantasy Faction: “While the characters are the heart of the novel, and the reason why I enjoyed it so much the first time I read it, what I grew to appreciate in subsequent readings is the way that Connolly manages to both hew to and eschew a tried and tested fantasy formula.”

3) LiveJournaler Zornhau really enjoyed it: “It’s what you’d get if James Ellroy spent a month reading Lovecraft. Macho. Dystopian. Touching. Disturbing. The horror is horror, but the heroes go up against it and gain not entirely futile victories.”

4) Alice at All there is… and the rest of it liked Child of Fire: “I like the main character, Ray Lilly. He changes, almost against his will over the course of the book. It’s a matter of regaining a moral compass. He doesn’t necessarily want to be a better person, but he knows he has to. I will definitely read the rest of the series.”

5) Garrett at The Ranting Dragon gives Child of Fire a big thumbs up: “This novel is an exhilarating addition to the urban fantasy genre.”

6) Bill Martell, the screenwriter at Sex in a Submarine, really liked Circle of Enemies: “I really liked that this is Ray dealing with people from his past – that made this more than just an entertaining story. It deals with lost loves and ex-friends and guilt and remorse and every messy friendship situation you’ve ever had.” It’s nice when a reader really sees what I was trying.

7) Drew Bittner at SFRevu gives Circle of Enemies a “Recommended”: “Harry Connolly delivers another high-powered and fast-paced adventure, with a great protagonist in Ray Lilly.“

TV Tropes has a story generator?

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It sure does.

I’ll never struggle with a story again, although I’m not sure if that’s because the generator will give me what I need or I won’t surface from TV Tropes long enough to write one.

Seen via Fred Hicks

My #FridayReads is still The Name Of The Wind

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Jeez, that book is slow.

Yesterday I sent a short story for an anthology over to the editor. It’s a little long, but maybe it will work for them anyway. At the moment I can’t see what else to cut from it, but in about two weeks I’ll probably think it’s twice what it should be.

Anyway, the story is called “Don’t Chew Your Food” and as I mentioned before it’s set in the world of Don’t Rest Your Head an indie horror rpg by the folks at Evil Hat. If you play with character sheets and dice, you should check out their site. My story is about a celebrity chef and… well… eating. Can you tell I’m reducing, as they used to say?

I was also paid for a short story I wrote for a different anthology, although I’m not sure if it’s meant to be talked about in public. It’s a shared world anthology with a growing background, and my story is about a mage who specializes in love magic.

Fun! Short fiction, it was nice to hang with you for a while. Don’t be such a stranger, okay?

Today I’m walking across the bridge to work on the new newest book, an epic (hopefully) fantasy with the working title A Blessing of Monsters (aka “Fantasy with gate magic”).

No, it’s not a Twenty Palaces book, but I can’t sit around doing nothing until I hear the official word, right? Must work work work.

Anyway, I’m turning off the internet for a few hours so I can get a long walk in, plus writering. And today I’ll remember my house keys. Happy October.

The Write Agenda

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I’m not a part of Writer Beware, but I think they do great work. So I was surprised to see that they’re taking a fair bit of abuse from someone (or someones) called The Write Agenda. I guess it first came out while I was on my internet fast.

I don’t know Ann Crispin at all, but I’ve been a fan of Victoria Strauss for years. I really enjoy her brainy fantasies about zealots and fanaticism, and she was the first professional who ever told me there was something of value in my writing. Of course it was a huge thrill for me when she agreed to blurb Child of Fire.

She’s spent years helping writers navigate the minefield of bad/useless agents and publishers. Whoever this anonymous creep at The Write Agenda might be, I support Writer Beware unreservedly.

Keep doing your good work, guys.